


To Fall From the Sky

by midnightdiddle (gooseberry)



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-10
Updated: 2007-04-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 04:38:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12674589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooseberry/pseuds/midnightdiddle
Summary: When they near the ship Penelo slips free of Larsa, running ahead to start the glossair rings. The airship shudders, then shifts upon the rubble, and Penelo can hear Vaan's voice in the back of the ship, and a faint murmur of Larsa."Go back," Vaan says a moment later, and his side is covered in blood. "He needs you.""I am killed," Larsa says, when Penelo reaches him. His words splatter red, and Penelo catches his hand. "I am killed, Penelo, and Archadia with me.""Larsa," she says, reaching out to touch the cloak. Her fingers come back wet and warm, and she cannot swallow.

--Archadia, Larsa, and a fall that shakes the world.  Vague Larsa/Penelo.





	To Fall From the Sky

Archadia falls when Penelo is thirty-one.

Knowledge is most everything to sky-pirates, and so she hears of Archadia's fall in the midst of it, and Vaan hears of it some hours after Penelo, and by the late evening their ship is heading towards Archades, flying beneath the wind.

The city is burning in parts and the Judges are leading a counter-attack, and Vaan swings the ship around to land amongst what's left of a airship cage.

"Larsa," Penelo says, and her eyes are already stinging for the smoke.

"I know," Vaan says, and his mouth is smiling, even if his eyes aren't. "We'll grab him and run, ransom him off to Rozarria."

Penelo nods, because her throat is burning like her eyes, and Vaan catches her hand, squeezing it before he leaves the ship, scrambling over the rubble. Penelo follows him, and they take to the back hallways, the stairs Penelo used to sneak up years ago, when she would slip into Larsa's rooms and Larsa's bed and Larsa's arms, deep in the Archadian night.

There is blood splashed upon the floors of the upper hallways, scorch marks marring the walls. The bodies have been mostly kicked out of the way, loyals and traitors alike, and Penelo doesn't look closely at the faces, because too many of them look familiar at just a glance. There is the sound of fighting far ahead, metal upon metal, and there is the constant groan, low and reverberating in Penelo's chest, of death.

"To the Emperor," a far-off voice cries, and the blood is fresher here. Vaan and Penelo are passing Larsa's bedrooms, are nearing the map rooms, and Penelo's hands feel slick with sweat.

The fighting is spread out across the hallway, a score of men deep on either side, and the armor of the judges closest to Vaan and Penelo glints in the firelight from Old Archades. There is a smaller cluster, to the side, barricaded by bodies and half-destroyed tables, and there is a crumple of purple, and a glint of gold.

"The Emperor," a Judge says, and his helm is missing. Penelo cannot remember his name, but it doesn't matter, because the Judge is half-carrying Larsa, Larsa wrapped in the cloak of the Magisters.

"Pene--" Larsa says, and his voice is wet, as is his mouth, red and bubbly. Penelo cannot look away, for all that she wants to.

"Take him," the Judge says. "The Loyals shall hold here. We'll come for him, in time."

"We," Vaan begins, and the Judge slings Larsa's arm about Larsa's neck.

"Sky-pirates take the sky, and to treasure," the Judge says. "An Emperor's ransom shall be a prize worthy of you. Keep him alive, and keep him well."

It takes near a lifetime to return to their airship. Penelo slings Larsa's other arm over her shoulder, and Larsa's feet stumble often, and between the three of them, the hallways are slow, and the stairs slower yet. At times, Larsa gives a groan, one that is deep, and that makes Penelo's body quiver. Vaan curses quietly on Larsa's far side, and Penelo clings to Larsa's arm slung over her, holding tightly to the blood-soaked cloth of the cloak draped over Larsa.

When they near the ship Penelo slips free of Larsa, running ahead to start the glossair rings. The airship shudders, then shifts upon the rubble, and Penelo can hear Vaan's voice in the back of the ship, and a faint murmur of Larsa.

"Go back," Vaan says a moment later, and his side is covered in blood. "He needs you."

"I am killed," Larsa says, when Penelo reaches him. His words splatter red, and Penelo catches his hand. "I am killed, Penelo, and Archadia with me."

"Larsa," she says, reaching out to touch the cloak. Her fingers come back wet and warm, and she cannot swallow. "Larsa, I'll get a potion, or--"

"Don't leave me," and Larsa sounds desperate and young, like he's still a child, and his fingernails rake her skin. "Stay with me, Penelo?"

"Larsa--"

"I am killed, but I would that you stay with me, this once. For a moment, I won't be long. Penelo? Stay with me?" Larsa's voice is lowering, and Penelo's hands are shaking, and so she clutches his hand, and she stays by his side. His fingertips flutter against her skin for half a moment, and he stills like so, half a name upon his mouth, half a hand upon Penelo's mouth.

Larsa falls when Penelo is thirty-one, and Archadia falls with him.


End file.
